Fidel Castro drank buffalo milk and ate American foods this past week, well yay him.

Americans live in a democracy that they are fiercely proud of. Don’t agree? Just look at the thousands of people who have been protesting the World Bank over the past week. If we lived under any other form of government, including Castro’s dictatorship, there is no way people would be free to say or do whatever they want to.

I am disheartened to see that over the past week Americans have been down in Cuba, openly talking and sharing with Castro the fruits of their labor. People participating in the U.S. Trade Show in Cuba have gone so far as to say that Castro is personable and funny and even charming. A man was quoted as saying that he saw no oppression anywhere and that he doesn’t think Castro is the vicious man Americans have viewed him as.

If Castro’s Cuba isn’t bad, then why are people willing to face death at open sea rather than spend another day in their native Cuba? If Castro is so wonderful, then why does every American know the name Elian Gonzales? When Elian Gonzales was forced to return to Cuba, Americans were horrified that the American government would force this little boy to return to Cuba. If Americans were horrified about a child returning home, then why are people being lured into the idea of trading with Cuba? It’s a complete contradiction.

What about the Cuban Missile crisis? Does no American wanting to trade with Cuba remember that it was Castro himself that brought us closer to nuclear war than we have ever been before? Because of Castro’s permission to let Russians place nuclear missiles in Cuba, giving them a vantage point to strike at America any time, Castro forced Americans to live in fear.

Why does Castro even want to trade with America? In 2000, the United States allowed for trading of American agriculture products with Cuba on a cash basis. Castro refused to take part in that agreement until he was forced to because of a hurricane that forced Cuba to seek out food from the United States to keep the people from starving to death. Since then, Castro has been very open to Americans trading with Cuba.

I agree that we can gain economically from trading with Cuba. However, it has the potential to have detrimental effects on Cubans. Under a dictatorship, there is no way we can know that profits from trading with Americans will actually benefit the Cuban people or if it will go to something that Castro wants it to. As a dictator of a country he says where money goes, and he could very well say it doesn’t go to the people.

We have had a trade embargo with Cuba for the past 40 years for reasons that have nothing to do with economics. It is a humanitarian reason that we don’t trade with Cuba. By trading with them, we are saying that we support the dictator regime that Cuba is living under. The Bush administration says trade sanctions with Cuba should not be lessened until Cuba adopts a more democratic government, one that benefits the people more than it benefits the leadership.

So, Mr. Castro, enjoy your buffalo milk, and choke on it, because that’s the only way Cubans will ever benefit from trading with America, when you’re gone.

Susie Strzelec ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in psychology.